“Bill Barr Goes Full-In Right-Wing Looney” https://www.dcreport.org/2020/09/18/bill-barr-goes-full-in-right-wing-looney/ “…The wording of the federal sedition statute says it is a crime for two or more people to conspire to use force to oppose federal authority, hinder the government’s ability to enforce any federal law or unlawfully seize any federal property — elements that might conceivably be made to fit a plot to, say, break into and set fire to a federal courthouse, despite evidence that more than 93% of nearly 8,000 Black Lives Matter protests between May and August this year have been peaceful.
Maybe Barr should be looking at those organized Western ranchers, right-wingers all, when they held off enforcement of federal water law enforcement at gunpoint. Or at organized, armed Trump supporters who entered statehouses to threaten the lives of legislators considering laws to require coronavirus masks.
Or he could be looking at Trump administration officials and Republican supporters calling on people to arm themselves for insurrection in the event that Joe Biden wins the election. Or maybe even at the continued use of federal law enforcement and the Justice Department itself as political instruments to advance the partisan cause of a single sitting president seeking reelection, clearly throwing out any separations of power as constitutionally required to get his way in a wide variety of cases ranging from the misuse of U.S. intelligence to the matters of impeachment.
Just who here is seeking the overthrow of government as we have known it for 200 years? FBI Director Christopher Wray told a House committee it is right-wing white militias. Where’s Barr?”
“FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers Thursday that racially motivated violent extremism cases account for the bulk of the bureau’s work on domestic terrorist threats.
Testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee, Wray also said most of the racially motivated cases deal with white supremacists.
“Within the domestic terrorism bucket, the category as a whole, racially motivated violent extremism is, I think, the biggest bucket within that larger group. And within the racially motivated violent extremist bucket, people subscribing to some kind of white supremacist-type ideology is certainly the biggest chunk of that,” he said.
“Lately we’ve been having about 1,000 domestic terrorism cases each year. It is higher this year,” Wray added. “I know we’ve had about 120 arrests for domestic terrorism this year.” https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/516888-wray-says-racially-motivated-violent-extremism-makes-up-most-of-fbis
“Department Of Justice Identifies New York City, Portland And Seattle As Jurisdictions Permitting Violence And Destruction Of Property : Identification is Response to Presidential Memorandum Reviewing Federal Funding to State and Local Governments that are Permitting Anarchy, Violence, and Destruction in American Cities”
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs Press release Monday, September 21, 2020 https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-identifies-new-york-city-portland-and-seattle-jurisdictions-permitting
“The news release added that other cities could be added to the list of so-called anarchist jurisdictions if necessary: “The Department of Justice is continuing to work to identify jurisdictions that meet the criteria set out in the President’s Memorandum and will periodically update the list of selected jurisdictions as required therein.”
The designations come following Trump’s Sept. 2 order requiring agency heads to submit reports detailing all federal funds sent to the three cities as well as Washington, D.C., where protests at the White House have caused Trump to clash publicly with the city’s mayor over the scope of law enforcement’s response to the demonstrators.” https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/517365-doj-designates-new-york-portland-and-seattle-as-permitting-anarchy
“Barr to Be Honored for ‘Christlike Behavior’ Today With Award From Right Wing Catholic Group With Strong Ties to Trump” https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2020/09/barr-to-be-honored-for-christlike-behavior-today-with-award-from-right-wing-catholic-group-with-strong-ties-to-trump/
“At the direction of U.S. Attorney General William Barr, the federal government is expected to approve the lethal injection of a condemned prisoner on Tuesday, the sixth federal execution since July. Two days later, a seventh execution is planned.
And on the day between those two scheduled executions, Barr is slated to accept an award from a right-wing Catholic organization for being one of “Christ’s Faithful People” — a move that has created a backlash among opponents of the death penalty, including thousands of Catholics.
Outraged at Barr’s decision to reinstate the federal death penalty after a 17-year pause, they are using the occasion of the award to emphasize the church’s teaching on the death penalty — that it is wrong and should never be used — and to highlight what they say is Barr’s flagrant violation of Catholic doctrine.” https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Big-blowup-in-Catholic-Church-as-Trump-15585264.php
“Bill Barr Goes Full-In Right-Wing Looney” https://www.dcreport.org/2020/09/18/bill-barr-goes-full-in-right-wing-looney/ “…The wording of the federal sedition statute says it is a crime for two or more people to conspire to use force to oppose federal authority, hinder the government’s ability to enforce any federal law or unlawfully seize any federal property — elements that might conceivably be made to fit a plot to, say, break into and set fire to a federal courthouse, despite evidence that more than 93% of nearly 8,000 Black Lives Matter protests between May and August this year have been peaceful.
Maybe Barr should be looking at those organized Western ranchers, right-wingers all, when they held off enforcement of federal water law enforcement at gunpoint. Or at organized, armed Trump supporters who entered statehouses to threaten the lives of legislators considering laws to require coronavirus masks.
Or he could be looking at Trump administration officials and Republican supporters calling on people to arm themselves for insurrection in the event that Joe Biden wins the election. Or maybe even at the continued use of federal law enforcement and the Justice Department itself as political instruments to advance the partisan cause of a single sitting president seeking reelection, clearly throwing out any separations of power as constitutionally required to get his way in a wide variety of cases ranging from the misuse of U.S. intelligence to the matters of impeachment.
Just who here is seeking the overthrow of government as we have known it for 200 years? FBI Director Christopher Wray told a House committee it is right-wing white militias. Where’s Barr?”
“FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers Thursday that racially motivated violent extremism cases account for the bulk of the bureau’s work on domestic terrorist threats.
Testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee, Wray also said most of the racially motivated cases deal with white supremacists.
“Within the domestic terrorism bucket, the category as a whole, racially motivated violent extremism is, I think, the biggest bucket within that larger group. And within the racially motivated violent extremist bucket, people subscribing to some kind of white supremacist-type ideology is certainly the biggest chunk of that,” he said.
“Lately we’ve been having about 1,000 domestic terrorism cases each year. It is higher this year,” Wray added. “I know we’ve had about 120 arrests for domestic terrorism this year.” https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/516888-wray-says-racially-motivated-violent-extremism-makes-up-most-of-fbis
“Department Of Justice Identifies New York City, Portland And Seattle As Jurisdictions Permitting Violence And Destruction Of Property : Identification is Response to Presidential Memorandum Reviewing Federal Funding to State and Local Governments that are Permitting Anarchy, Violence, and Destruction in American Cities”
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs Press release Monday, September 21, 2020 https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-identifies-new-york-city-portland-and-seattle-jurisdictions-permitting
“The news release added that other cities could be added to the list of so-called anarchist jurisdictions if necessary: “The Department of Justice is continuing to work to identify jurisdictions that meet the criteria set out in the President’s Memorandum and will periodically update the list of selected jurisdictions as required therein.”
The designations come following Trump’s Sept. 2 order requiring agency heads to submit reports detailing all federal funds sent to the three cities as well as Washington, D.C., where protests at the White House have caused Trump to clash publicly with the city’s mayor over the scope of law enforcement’s response to the demonstrators.” https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/517365-doj-designates-new-york-portland-and-seattle-as-permitting-anarchy
“Barr to Be Honored for ‘Christlike Behavior’ Today With Award From Right Wing Catholic Group With Strong Ties to Trump” https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2020/09/barr-to-be-honored-for-christlike-behavior-today-with-award-from-right-wing-catholic-group-with-strong-ties-to-trump/
“At the direction of U.S. Attorney General William Barr, the federal government is expected to approve the lethal injection of a condemned prisoner on Tuesday, the sixth federal execution since July. Two days later, a seventh execution is planned.
And on the day between those two scheduled executions, Barr is slated to accept an award from a right-wing Catholic organization for being one of “Christ’s Faithful People” — a move that has created a backlash among opponents of the death penalty, including thousands of Catholics.
Outraged at Barr’s decision to reinstate the federal death penalty after a 17-year pause, they are using the occasion of the award to emphasize the church’s teaching on the death penalty — that it is wrong and should never be used — and to highlight what they say is Barr’s flagrant violation of Catholic doctrine.” https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Big-blowup-in-Catholic-Church-as-Trump-15585264.php
8AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 26th
DOJ Frees Federal Prosecutors to Take Steps That Could Interfere With Elections, Weakening Long-standing Policy
In an internal announcement, the Justice Department created an exception to a decadeslong policy meant to prevent prosecutors from taking overt investigative steps that might affect the outcome of the vote. (ProPublica 10/7/20) https://www.propublica.org/article/doj-frees-federal-prosecutors-to-take-steps-that-could-interfere-with-elections-weakening-long-standing-policy
See also “The Justice Department May Have Violated Attorney General Barr’s Own Policy Memo” https://www.propublica.org/article/the-justice-department-may-have-violated-attorney-general-barrs-own-policy-memo In a memo from May, the attorney general reminded Justice Dept. prosecutors to avoid partisan politics. Then a U.S. attorney in Pennsylvania announced an election investigation that had partisan overtones.